The Lions made a conscious effort to get Gibbs going early with 11 first quarter touches (8 rushes, 3 receptions), the most touches in an opening quarter since Christian McCaffrey in week 15 of last year; Penei Sewell, ‘Finally saw the real Jahmyr’

11 comments

1. After exploding for 189 yards from scrimmage in his “Monday Night Football” debut, Lions rookie Jahmyr Gibbs delivered a message for fantasy managers who have been questioning his production all season.

   “I’m tired of hearing it,” Gibbs said with a smile from his locker room stall following Detroit’s 26-14 win over the Las Vegas Raiders. “My fault. My bad.”

   The No. 12 overall draft pick shouldn’t hear much criticism this week, as Gibbs put up 29.9 fantasy points after rushing for 152 yards with a touchdown.

   “Finally saw the real Jahmyr,” said Pro Bowl offensive lineman Penei Sewell. “To see him out there doing what he does best, it was honestly crazy. I didn’t know he was that fast, and he just makes it look effortless out there — and it makes us look better.”

   The Lions’ coaching staff made a conscious effort to get Gibbs going early with 11 touches in the first quarter off eight rushes and three receptions, which were the most touches in an opening quarter in the league since Christian McCaffrey’s outing in Week 15 of last season.

   Gibbs would finish with 31 total touches, as he recorded five receptions for an additional 37 receiving yards.

   “It was fun, and it’s good knowing that your coach and teammates got that much trust in you,” Gibbs said.

   Lions quarterback Jared Goff said the performance will be a “good little springboard” for Gibbs going forward, with Detroit off to a 6-2 start for the first time since 2014.

   “I think it was seeing him get in a rhythm,” Goff said of Gibbs. “This was just like, ‘Hey, we’re going to keep giving you the ball.’ (He) started feeling the defense a little bit better, feeling those holes a little bit better, and he can do some pretty special things in space.”

   Coach Dan Campbell said the Lions accomplished their most important goal of “getting our identity back” following last week’s blowout loss at the Baltimore Ravens … which included a bigger role for Gibbs.

   “We wanted to get Gibbs going,” Campbell said. “We wanted … to establish the run, and you could tell he was feeling it. Every week, he’s gotten a little bit better … and I thought last week was his best game, and this week certainly surpassed that.

   “(As) he gains confidence in his own abilities, in this league … this was kind of the tip of the iceberg.”

2. I felt like this was huge. You could tell they really, really, *really* wanted to get Gibbs going early and keep all options open on offense. To everyone’s credit — mostly Gibbs himself, of course, but also the makeshift o-line and Ben as well — it worked and set us up well for the rest of the game.

3. He seemed to improve as he got more used to the game. Was a great thing to watch

4. I’m curious what happens once D-Mo comes back. I hope Gibbs gets 12-15 touches a game (instead of the 7-8 he was getting when D-Mo wasn’t hurt) and D-Mo about the same if not a bit more since he will still be our redzone guy.

   Also do hope Gibbs continues getting passes at receiver even if D-Mo is on the field.

5. Craig Reynolds has been absolutely balling out as RB3 this year too. Love our RBs.

6. 

7. It’s crazy what happens when you give a player more than 1 rep at a time

8. They kept seeing how the Eagles were showing off Swift and the Lions collectively said “hold my beer”.

9. Now do Jamo 🙏

10. Mark Ingram & Alvin Kamara 2.0 when Monty comes back 😭

11. As a fantasy player, respectfully, fuck fantasy. Players having to reply to fantasy whiners is a joke.